Modernization, social change, and the persistence of traditional institutions of religious learning: the case of Diyarbakır madrasahs

Abstract

Some of the leading nineteenth century social scientists and philosophers theorised that religion and religious institutions would lose their function both at the public and private spheres of life as a result of rationalization, urbanization, and advancement in science and technology. Although this theory may explain, at least to some extent, the status of religion in some of the Western societies, it, nonetheless, is from being a universally applicable theory given the persistence of religion and religious institutions in some Western and non-Western societies such as Turkey. This article, therefore, attempts to answer specifically the question of why after such an intense modernization program, traditional religious learning institutions, madrasahs, are still active in Turkey